As the second season of the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup builds to its crescendo, Kamil Grabowski arrives at Watkins Glen with a slender advantage over Pascal Costa. Attrition has been rife throughout the season and Grabowski’s path to the top of the standings hasn’t been without incident. In fact, the Polish star would start the opening encounter at Watkins Glen from pit lane after incurring a post-race penalty last time out.

Satellite racing’s Nick Rowland set the pace in qualifying and overhauled Christopher Kochaneck by a tenth of a second for pole. In eighth overall, Luke Maxwell stunned the AM class field and started three places ahead of Mikael Fang.

While the frontrunners scrapped for position, Rowland scampered to a 1.6 second lead over Pascal Costa by the end of lap one. However, once into his rhythm, Costa slowly eroded the gap to nothing by half race distance. Game on.

However, Costa still couldn’t break Rowland’s resolve throughout the remainder of the race and the British ace took victory after a flawless drive. Christopher Kochaneck held off stiff competition from Porschesport’s Josh Camm to claim the final spot on the podium.

Following Luke Maxwell’s demise on lap one, Mikael Fang ran uncontested to a dominant AM class win and overall top ten finish.

Following a reverse grid shuffle, David Biggadyke and Tomas Wewior started the thirty-minute feature race on the front row. Given the perilous nature of Watkins Glen’s opening S bends on cold tyres, the AM class pair would be glad of the clear view ahead.

However, as the saying goes, the cream rises to the top. PRO class superstars, Max Kessler and Kamil Grabowski, soon made their way forward and engaged in a fight for the lead. On lap six, Grabowski pounced. However, the Polish driver required half a lap to finally seal up the move exiting the Boot section.

Once into the lead, Grabowski charged to the win with unparralled pace. Having started race one from pit lane, Grabowski’s ascent across the meeting may prove critical to his championship campaign. Max Kessler held second place until the final lap when he couldn’t resist the rampant Nick Rowland. Starting from twentieth, Rowland’s second place finish confirmed a double podium and his best meeting of the season.

Leon Erger triumphed in an intense battle for AM class victory with Kev Copeland. Erger now leads his British rival by 34 points in the race for the AM title.

After the race, several of the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup stars gave their thoughts on a hotly contest meeting at Watkins Glen:

Leon Erger: “I was quite lucky in race one to get ahead of Kev Copeland. I tried a few moves, but he defended really well. Race two was hectic, I tried to stay out of trouble and dropped back a few places. I was lucky to not crash.”

Kev Copeland: “Not the best of showings from me tonight, but really good racing. Really good fun. I think Leon’s just got the edge on me.”

Cristopher Kochaneck: “I’m doing fine. Maybe a bit frustrated if you want to say that.”

On the 24^th of March, the Apex Racing Academy Porsche Cup championship reaches its penultimate round at the ultra-modern Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Can anyone catch Grabowski in the championship chase? Tune in to Apex Racing TV at 8pm GMT to find out.

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